Update

Today's killer whale show at SeaWorld San Diego also has been cancelled, officials said. No decision had been announced on future shows.

SEAWORLD SAN DIEGO KILLER WHALE INCIDENTS

1971: A SeaWorld secretary riding the original Shamu for a publicity stunt suffers lacerations and puncture wounds when she is tossed into the water and seized by her legs.

Feb. 23, 1984: Kandu, a female killer whale, takes trainer Joanne Hay in its mouth and pins her against a wall during a performance.

Aug. 12, 1984: Two killer whales grab the legs of trainer Bud Krames and pins him against a glass retaining wall during a performance. Krames suffers bruises.

Nov. 2, 1984: Kandu briefly grabs the legs of trainer Georgia Jones during a Shamu show but releases the trainer unhurt. The 4,500-pound killer whale takes Jones’ legs in her mouth, but doesn’t bite down.

Nov. 16, 1986: Kandu presses its snout against trainer Mark Beeler and holds him against a wall for a few seconds during a performance before several hundred spectators.

March 4, 1987: Trainer Jonathan Smith, 20, gets roughed up by killer whales Shamu and Kandu during a show. Smith is butted around the pool and pinned between the whales. He suffers a lacerated liver and a bruised kidney.

Sept. 30, 1987: Trainer Chris Barlow, an animal behaviorist, is working with one whale during a performance when another whale rams into him.

Nov. 21, 1987: Trainer John Sillick, 26, becomes seriously injured when a 12,000-pound killer whale lands on him during a show. He suffers a fractured pelvis, femur and ribs. The trainer was performing in a pool with two whales when the accident occurred.

At least 14 SeaWorld trainers were injured by killer whales during a four-month period beginning in August of that year. Trainers didn’t go into the pools with the killer whales for six months after Sillick’s accident, while the training program was revamped.

Three SeaWorld officials, including the president, are fired in December.

July 31, 2002: Splash, a 12-year-old male killer whale, and Orkid, a 13-year-old female, pull a 28-year-old female trainer into the water. The trainer suffers a broken arm.

Nov. 29, 2006: Trainer Ken Peters, 33, is bitten on the foot by Kasatka, a 5,000-pound female killer whale. Kasatka takes Peters to the bottom of the tank twice, causing him to suffer a fractured left foot.

In a similar incident a few weeks earlier, a different whale dragged another trainer downward by the foot before obeying commands to let go.

April 10, 2007: A 35-year-old trainer suffers minor injuries when a killer whale strikes her during a sonogram procedure.

SeaWorld San Diego shut down its killer whale show after an orca at its sister facility in Orlando, Fla., fatally dragged and thrashed a trainer Wednesday. The incident cast a pall over marine-themed parks and raised old questions about the ethics — and dangers — of keeping large ocean predators in captivity.

The Orlando park was closed immediately, and it’s unclear when operations there will resume. SeaWorld in San Antonio was already scheduled to remain shuttered until this weekend.

Visitors to SeaWorld San Diego expressed sadness that Tilikum, a 12,000-pound male orca, killed veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, in front of about two dozen spectators.

Chuck Tompkins, head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks, confirmed that Tilikum grabbed Brancheau and pulled her in as she rubbed the whale. Tompkins said that because of Tilikum’s size and involvement in two previous deaths, trainers weren’t supposed to get into the water with him.

“It’s shocking,” said Denise Wong of New Brunswick, Canada, as she and her husband left the San Diego venue. The couple had planned to attend the 2:30 p.m. killer whale show but left shortly after park officials pulled the plug without referencing the fatality in Orlando.

“They definitely should have made an announcement about why,” said Wong’s husband, Wayne. “People would have understood and not been disappointed. They probably would have backed off and said, ‘Geez, let’s have a little respect.’ ”

Workers at SeaWorld San Diego, home to seven orcas, took the news hard.

“It is a difficult day for us,” said Dave Koontz, a local spokesman for the theme park. “The biggest point is to say how sad we are that a member of our SeaWorld family has died. It doesn’t matter which park had the accident, it’s all part of the same family.”

A retired couple from Michigan who witnessed Wednesday’s killing said it happened as a noontime “Dine With Shamu” show was winding down.

Eldon Skaggs, 72, said Brancheau was on a platform with Tilikum. He said the interaction appeared leisurely and informal. Then, Skaggs said, the whale “pulled her under and started swimming around with her.”

Skaggs said an alarm sounded and staff members rushed the audience out of the stadium and scrambled around with nets. Others who attended an earlier show said the whale had behaved like an ornery child, not responding to directions.

Two witnesses said Tilikum turned Brancheau over and over as he swam. SeaWorld officials said the trainer, one of the park’s most experienced, drowned.

Tilikum was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer who fell into their pool 19 years ago in British Columbia.

He also was involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by SeaWorld Orlando security was found draped over him. The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, although he also was bruised and scratched by Tilikum.

The iconic, black-and-white killer whales have a long history of aggressive behavior in captivity.

In 1971, a SeaWorld San Diego secretary riding the original Shamu for a publicity stunt suffered lacerations and puncture wounds when she was tossed into the water and seized by her legs.

At least 14 local SeaWorld trainers were injured by killer whales during a four-month period beginning in August 1987. They didn’t go into the pools with SeaWorld’s killer whales for six months while the training program was revamped, and three managers were dismissed.

Four years ago, SeaWorld San Diego trainer Ken Peters was bitten on the foot by Kasatka, a 5,000-pound female killer whale. Kasatka took Peters to the bottom of the tank twice during a performance, fracturing his left foot.

Such incidents should cause people to reconsider keeping marine mammals in captivity, said Bryan Pease, a San Diego lawyer and chairman of the board for the Animal Protection and Rescue League.

“I am sure the trainers will say they are well taken care of, but you can’t meet the behavioral needs of these large marine animals in a marine park,” Pease said. “They are meant to live in the ocean.”

In that environment, killer whales swim about 75 miles a day and eat huge quantities of salmon, seals and other species. They typically have 48 teeth and travel in pods of three to 40 animals, said Brad Hanson, who studies killer whales for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle.

The orcas sometimes exhibit aggressive tendencies toward one another.

“We see scars on them, and they are obviously using their teeth as part of their social behavior,” Hanson said. “They can play pretty rough.”

Captive killer whales might get bored or angry and behave in unnatural ways, said Elliott Norse, president of the nonprofit Marine Conservation Biology Institute near Seattle.

“In the wild, killer whales have never once been known to cause a human death, although they certainly are curious about humans, and a few historical accounts have recorded them as behaving in what might have been threatening ways toward humans,” Norse said.

Koontz would not discuss training procedures for SeaWorld San Diego’s staff or killer whales, saying they are internal matters.

From the sound of things yesterday at the local venue, the death in Orlando likely won’t undermine fan support for the Shamu show.

“It’s super cool,” regular visitor April Sturgis of San Diego said as she walked her two children through the parking lot. “Without it, I don’t know if there’s much of a SeaWorld.”

Union-Tribune librarian Michelle Gilchrist, The Associated Press and MCT News Service contributed to this report.